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Nico Rosberg
|birthplace = Wiesbaden, West Germany |death date = |placeofdeath = |nationality = |status = Active |currentteam = |currentcar = 6 |firstrace = 2006 Bahrain Grand Prix |firstwin = 2012 Chinese Grand Prix |lastrace = |lastwin = 2015 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix |2014Position = 2nd |2014Pts = 317}} Nico Erik Rosberg (born 27 June 1985 in Wiesbaden, West Germany) is a German Formula One driver who currently drives for , having previously driven for . He is most well-known for beating the seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher comprehensively on his comeback in , and again in . He is the son of world champion Keke Rosberg, who is Finnish. He has won three races in and five in , claiming second place in the 2014 Drivers' championship after a season-long battle with teammate Lewis Hamilton. His permanent number for his career is #6. __TOC__ Career Before Formula One (Left) and Lewis Hamilton (Right) partnered on TeamMBM.com in 2000]] Rosberg began his racing career at the age of ten, racing karts. In the year 2000, Rosberg would be partnered with his future teammate Lewis Hamilton. In 2002, Rosberg advanced to the German Formula BMW and managed to win a title. Due to his performance in the series, his father Keke Rosberg gave him a ride in the Formula 3 Euro Series in 2003 and 2004. After declining an aeronautical engineering course at Imperial College London, Rosberg was invited to racing with team ART Grand Prix in the new GP2 series. With great success in GP2, in 2005 he became the first driver to win the GP2 title. 2006 Late in 2005, Rosberg had signed with for the following season. He made history even before the first race of the season. Like all new Williams drivers, Rosberg was required to take the Engineering Aptitude Test, on which he recorded the highest score in Williams' history. (Left), Felipe Massa (Center) and Christian Klien (Right) are involved in a first lap accident during the 2006 Australian Grand Prix]] He began the season alongside his teammate Mark Webber, who had joined the team one year earlier. The Williams car was considered to be far below the standards and experts said the team was not competitive. Despite this, Rosberg performed admirably in Bahrain and took a points finish. He was even able to record the fastest lap time, becoming the youngest driver in Formula One history to do so. The remainder of the season went poorly for Rosberg. He suffered many retirements and was uneffective in scoring any points, other than the four he had scored in the first race. He had scored three points less than Webber. It was rumoured that Rosberg would be changing teams for the next season, but he accepted Willaims' offer to stay. However, his teammate would leave to drive for after his two-year contract with Williams expired and was not renewed. 2007 Partnered with Alexander Wurz, Rosberg continued his career with Williams. A switch to engines for the team was predicted to improve the performance of the team. Rosberg became a qualifying master, managing to score multiple top-ten grid places. Rosberg had proved to be a responsible driver, only retiring from three races because of mechanical failures. Rosberg scored ninth position in the World Championship, performing better than Wurz by seven points. This was a considerable improvement from his previous results, causing Wurz to lose his seat with the team. It was clear that Rosberg would be back on Williams next season. 2008 For his return to Williams for the season, Rosberg was paired with the rookie Kazuki Nakajima. The first race of the season went well of Rosberg who managed to get his first podium finish. leading the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix]] Rosberg hit some more milestones in the Singapore Grand Prix. There he was able to lead his first race, leading ten laps before being overtaken by Felipe Massa for the win. Rosberg was not successful in winning the event, but managed to earn his the first second place finish in his career and the highest finish of his career (at that time). His first run in with the race stewards was after qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix. During the qualifying session, he had made contact with the eliminated Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Räikkönen. He was given a ten-place grid penalty for the race. For the rest of the season, Rosberg was let down by the car's poor performance and was only successful in scoring three other points scoring positions. This placed him in thirteenth place in the Championship, placing him two places higher than his teammate. 2009 Rosberg had a great season with Williams. He was able to score points in all but six races and was able to qualify in the top-ten on multiple occasions. He only suffered one retirement due to a gearbox issue. Rosberg was successful in getting a seventh place finish in the World Championship and beating his teammate who scored no points in the season. Rosberg announced his exit from the team at the end of the season. He would be moving to the new works team, serving as teammate to the legendary Michael Schumacher. "They're the only team, I've worked with. Frank Williams, especially, Adam Parr, Sam Michael, Patrick Head have really supported my career over these years and I'd like to say a very big thank you to them. There's no reason why they can't be as good as this year. But I'm not sure they can win races at the moment, and I would like to win races. It's been a good season because the team gave me a good car it was an opportunity to raise my share value and to find a winning car for next year." - Nico Rosberg Williams would start with two new drivers for the season. They would hire Rubens Barrichello and Nico Hülkenberg. 2010 Now with Mercedes, Rosberg noticed a notable improvement in his results. There was a lot of hype about the return of Michael Schumacher, but Rosberg was able to out-race his teammate in most events, despite the pressure. Rosberg qualified for his first front row grid position in the Malaysian Grand Prix and also earned a third place finish. This was the team's first podium finish since their Formula One comeback. He repeated this finish at the next race in China and also in Britain almost three months later. 's being removed by safety car after an accident in the 2010 Korean Grand Prix]] Rosberg was involved in his first race accident during the Korean Grand Prix when he was collected by Mark Webber on the 18th lap of the race. Both drivers were forced to retire from the event. Rosberg was able to score points in all of the races, except for this and one other retirement and two other finishes. He finished the season in 7th place, scoring nearly twice as many points as Schumacher. 2011 Rosberg was eager to out-race his legendary teammate once again. The first race of the season didn't quite go to plan, as an accident forced Rosberg to retire to the garage. He was also unsuccessful in scoring points in the next race at Malaysia, as a twelfth place finished was not in scoring position. The next race in China was most successful for Rosberg. A top-five finish would give him his first ten points of the season. He repeated this in Turkey. Although he managed to score points in most of the remaining races, the team struggled with achieving top finishes. This was largely because the new Mercedes MGP W02 was uncompetitive, but an accident on the first lap of the Italian Grand Prix did not help the situation. To end the season, Rosberg earned his third consecutive seventh place Championship finish. This was enough the beat Schumacher once again and meant that Rosberg would keep his Mercedes seat for another year. 2012 Partnered with Schumacher once again, Rosberg resumed his career with Mercedes for the season. His season did not have as good of a start as some of his previous season. He was unable to earn any points in the first two races. celebrating his first Formula One win, in China]] However, Rosberg's luck changed when he earned a pole and win in China, beating both drivers by 20 seconds. Rosberg broke three milestones that weekend; his first career pole position, his first career win and Mercedes' first win since their return to Formula One. "It’s a reward for all our colleagues who have put in so much work and who never let themselves be distracted from their dream of winning races in Formula One. It’s also the perfect example that you can achieve what you want to when the right conditions are put in place and you are totally committed to the direction you are heading in. Nico showed great class yesterday: it was a composed win, with an advantage of more than 20 seconds." - Norbert Haug ( Vice President) The rest of the season when relatively normal. A second place finish in Monaco was his only other podium finish. He managed to score points in the vast majority of the races. Despite retirements in Japan, South Korea and Abu Dhabi from collisions early in the race, Rosberg managed to finish the season with 93 points. This put him in ninth position, four positions up on Schumacher. At the end of the season, the seven time world champion Michael Schumacher announced his second retirement. After Lewis Hamilton's contract with McLaren expired at the end of the season, it was decided that he would fill the champion's seat. This meant that Rosberg would finally earn his number one driver status with Mercedes. 2013 Now partnered with previous karting teammate Lewis Hamilton, Rosberg was looking to show the team that his number one team status was well-deserved. A retirement in Australia and China because of mechanical failures early in the season, did not help him show this. Hamilton had already managed to get two podium finishes with Mercedes under his belt but this time. 's win in Monaco]] Things were looking better for Rosberg, as he earned three consecutive pole positions. It wasn't until the third in Monaco that he finally cashed in a win. Another win in Hamilton's home Grand Prix as icing on the cake. However, even another two podium finishes would leave Rosberg 18 points short of his teammate's 189 points. The team announced that both drivers would be returning with the team next season and that Rosberg would maintain his number one driver status with the team. 2014 Rosberg got the season off to a perfect start with a win in the Australian Grand Prix. However, Rosberg came second behind his teammate Lewis Hamilton in the next four races. In the final qualifying session at the Monaco Grand Prix, Rosberg went off the track at Mirabeau, which caused yellow flags and prevented his teammate Lewis Hamilton from getting pole. There was a lot of controversy surrounding this incident, as some felt Rosberg deliberately spun off the track to prevent his teammate from getting pole. However, the stewards ruled that the incident was not made purposely, meaning that Rosberg kept pole position, and went on to win the race ahead of Hamilton. Personal life On 11 July 2014, Rosberg married childhood friend and long-time fiancée Vivian Sibold. It was later announced on 20 February 2015 that they are to have a baby girl in August of the same year, being born on 30 August. Formula One Statistical Overview Formula One Record Career Statistics Correct as of the 2013 Brazilian Grand Prix Race Wins Career Results | | |11th| |11th| |9th| |9th|14th| | | | |11th|10th| |4|17th}} | |10th| |12th|10th|16th|9th|12th| | | | | | |16th| |20|9th}} |14th| | | | |10th|16th|9th|10th|14th| |12th|14th| |11th|15th|12th|17|13th}} | |15th|9th| | | | | | | | |16th|11th| | |9th|34.5|7th}} | | | |13th| | | | | | | | | | |17th| | |4th|142|7th}} |12th| | | |11th|11th| | | | | | | | | | | | |89|7th}} | | | | | |15th| | |11th| | | | |11th| |13th|15th|93|9th}} | | | | | | | | |19th| | | | | | | | | |171|6th}} | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |14th|317|2nd}} |- |- Notes Category:Current Drivers Category:2006 Début Drivers Category:German Drivers Category:Williams Drivers Category:Mercedes Drivers Category:Nico Rosberg Category:1985 births Category:Living people Category:2012 Season Drivers Category:Review